We're using every opportunity to keep these and other relief ideas in front of policymakers. During meetings at the White House and Treasury, NAFCU and member credit unions have been engaging in a frank give-and-take of information with top officials, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, about credit unions' experiences in the current environment and ways to improve it.

We also see promise in the focus and tenor of the congressional hearings held this year. During the six hearings in which NAFCU witnesses have testified, House and Senate lawmakers have expressed growing interest in learning about what rules and structures constrain credit unions' efforts and how to fix them.

The NCUA's own actions deserve recognition. Since late spring, NCUA Chairman J. Mark McWatters has engaged directly and openly with CFPB Director Richard Cordray, urging that more of the regulating and supervising of credit unions be left to credit unions' prudential regulator. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, McWatters stated a commitment to providing more relief for credit unions. He also said the agency needs more flexibility to decide how to implement rules.

These developments are encouraging. Moving relief from proposal to final action will take time, but we know support is growing for an easing in unnecessary regulatory burden to ensure that credit unions can thrive.

To drive momentum, we need everyone in the industry – credit unions, credit union organizations as well as their consumer-members – to engage with lawmakers, regulators and policymakers on ways to help the nation's Main Street credit unions reach more consumers and small businesses – and help grow our economy.

NAFCU begins each year with a set of top priorities that all tie back to ensuring a positive environment for credit unions that is conducive to economic growth. We are pursuing this goal with five tenets in mind:

A regulatory environment that allows credit unions to grow. Credit unions need a regulatory environment that neither stifles innovation nor discourages access to credit for consumers and small businesses. This means an environment that allows credit unions to establish healthy fields of membership as well as modernized capital standards.

Appropriate, tailored regulation for credit unions and relief from growing regulatory burdens. Credit unions are swamped by an ever-increasing regulatory burden from the CFPB, where rules target bad actors but fail to accommodate community institutions' needs. Rules should be subject to stringent cost/benefit analysis, easily implemented and, if found to be too complex or costly, fixed or removed. Enforcement orders cannot take the place of regulation and guidance.

A fair playing field. Credit unions should have as many opportunities as banks and non-regulated entities to provide provident credit to consumers. Similarly situated depositories should be held to the same rules of the road. Unregulated entities, such as payday lenders, must not escape oversight. We need a federal regulatory structure for non-bank financial services market players (including fintechs) that lack a prudential regulator.

Transparency and independent oversight. Regulators must be transparent in their actions, should provide the opportunity for public input and must respect different viewpoints. A bipartisan leadership structure offers the best form of regulatory governance for independent agencies and all stakeholders should have input into the regulatory process.

A strong, independent NCUA as the primary regulator for credit unions. NAFCU has been unwavering on this point: Due to credit unions' unique nature, the NCUA, as an independent federal regulatory agency, is best situated and has the knowledge and expertise needed to regulate this industry. The agency's structure, with its three-person board, has a long track record of success. We may not always agree with its decisions, but we firmly believe the NCUA should be credit unions' sole federal regulator and, when appropriate, work with other depository institution regulators. Congress should ensure the NCUA has the tools and powers it needs to be effective.

These tenets are the focus of the hundreds of credit union leaders from around the country who are in Washington this week for NAFCU's Congressional Caucus. They have been learning from the policymakers who shape their environment and meeting with their lawmakers on issues that have the greatest impact on their operations and the nation's 110 million credit union member-consumers.

It's an exciting week, and our hope is that it energizes credit unions – and credit union members – to keep this work going through the coming year.

Carrie Hunt is Executive Vice President of Government Affairs & General Counsel for NAFCU. She can be reached at 703-842-2234 or [email protected].